


we know there's too much tension at stake

by sultrygoblin



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Caught, F/M, Protective Older Brothers, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24993844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sultrygoblin/pseuds/sultrygoblin
Summary: one shot - before the waitress there’d been you. actually, there’d always been you. but charlie’s kind of an idiot.
Relationships: Charlie Kelly/Reader
Kudos: 26





	we know there's too much tension at stake

**Author's Note:**

> i jammed two requests together again. his s/o wearing the green over shirt. plus charlie and mac’s sister are doing the do. i hope the combination brings both of you joy, anons.

You stuck your arm out the window, waving it around a few times before yanking it back inside and against your chest. It was just as cold outside as you expected from the morning. Not just because it was 6 am, an ungodly hour to be awake, but also because of course it would happen. The night before had been sweltering and even in the tank top you wore you had bee melting. Making it from here to your brother’s on your bike without a jacket was a great way to get hypothermia. Charlie was still crashed out, you weren’t about to wake him up just to ask to borrow a jacket. You’d just do it and make sure you brought it back to him. As long as you kept it tucked under the Narnian-esque land under your bed had become it wouldn’t matter. Which is normally something you could’ve managed. But of course, the one time you didn’t wake your boyfriend up to offer a solution on your sneaking around it all went to hell. How the hell had Charlie become the smart one in this relationship?

After biking home you were sweaty and tired. Hopping in the shower actually gave you a much better alibi, the amount of times you’d passed back out after standing in the hot water during the early hours of the morning. It also wiped the clear signs of having spent time with exactly who were you weren’t supposed to be spending time with from your skin, that part was incredibly disappointing. But you kept your whining internal. You’d gathered your clothes, tiptoed to your room, and promptly fell asleep. Which made you late because you’d forgotten to set your second alarm. It had been a mad dash to get clothing on and out the door. The last thing you needed was to deal with Dennis and his wrath.

You make it to the bar just before the Friday rush hits. You’re picking up slack. Checking IDs here, busing there, at one point Dee and Dennis are arguing and you’ve got to take over drinks. Your mind has been buzzing a mile a minute so you really don’t hear what your brother is saying when you’re all sitting down for your own drinks after last call.

“What?” you ask, shaking your head and focusing your eyes on him.

“That’s Charlie’s shirt,” you watch the man’s eyes widen out of view, though darting downward when glances turned to him probably didn’t help too much.

“No, it’s not,” you laugh, trying not to sound awkward and taking a sip of your beer to cover the giggle that threatened to spill out.

“Yeah, it’s got glue stains on it,” pointing to a few dried spots on the sleeves and near the collar, “Why,” he laughs awkwardly, making him responsible for changing the mood, “Why are you wearing Charlie’s shirt?”

“It’s not my shirt, dude,” he jumps in, trying to help.

Which is the wrong thing because it opens the door for everyone else, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure Mac’s right,” Dee strikes first, payback for not taking her side earlier, and doing your job instead.

“You know, now that I think about it, I don’t think you came back last night,” Dennis is next for the exact same reason. At least he cares enough to try and pass it off as a fleeting comment.

“Why are you wearing Charlie’s shirt?”

“It’s not my shirt!” “It’s not his shirt!”

“I’m pretty sure it is,” she’s drowned out by her brother shouting the same thing over her.

It’s just them talking over each other. Finding new combinations for the same words. Over and over. Until a gunshot breaks the silence. All of your jump but are not at all surprised to see Frank with the weapon pointed in the air.

“They’re banging,” he finally says when all eyes are on him, “And I’m sick of getting kicked out of the apartment.”

“Oh _you’re_ sick of it?” you shoot him a glare, “Sorry.”

“No, no, no,” he shook his head looking at his friend, “Friends to bang their friend’s sisters.”

Dennis furrowed his brows, “Um, you both have banged _my_ sister.”

“Well my sister’s not a slut, Dennis,” earning himself a fair enough look and attempts at arguing back from the woman herself, “Dee this is not about you, alright? This is about my best friend taking advantage of-”

You scoffed, unable to stop yourself from butting in, “Okay, one, you are not Charlie’s best friend,” earning murmurs of agreement and an indignant noise from your brother, “Secondly, and I can’t believe I have to say this,” taking a deep breath, “I kissed him,” which comes with a variety of looks. The only one that isn’t confused or disgusted in some way is Charlie, he’s just offended, “I literally spent all of high school talking about how I was going to smash my teeth against his teeth. You can’t say you didn’t see this coming?”

Which is right about when Mac swung, trying to hit Charlie and only succeeding in overshooting and colliding with you instead. You dropped like a sack of potatoes. Which caused an even bigger ruckus to ensue. Thankfully anger really screwed with your brother’s ability to notice _anything_ and Charlie managed to drag you to the back office. He’d just gotten the door closed, back against it and sliding to the ground when you groaned.

“ _Why do I have to wake you up, Charlie_?” he was already mocking you and you hadn’t even opened your eyes, “This, this is why.”

“I,” you hissed as you sat up on your elbows, blinking your eye and wincing as it stretched the bruising skin at your temple, “I think my subconscious did a thing.”

“That’s the excuse you’re going with,” you paused before nodding carefully, you could tell he wanted to be far more annoyed than he was going to end being. You were far too pitiful looking for him to stay mad for much longer, “It’s not a good excuse.”

“I know,” you sounded truly guilty.

That was right where it ended. He sighed. Scooting across the floor, taking a similar position but using the desk as support and pulling you back against him. Chin on your shoulder, thumbs stroking your skin gently, trying to keep you calm as your head began to ache. The screaming wasn’t helping but there was only so much that could be done.

“It looks really good on you though. I always thought you were just saying that because you wanted to steal it. Since that was like your thing,” you rolled your eyes and scoffed, it was worth the pain, “But yeah, it looks _really_ good.”

You giggled, “Look I might be concussed so that’s gonna be all you.”

He paused, considering before nodding quickly, “Yeah, I think I can live with that.”

{}

They could only be in the office, which was locked. No amount of yelling, knocking, or being generally annoying had worked so it had come down to a waiting game. After a few more stray punches, a lot of discussion that involved neither party, and an agreement that everyone begrudgingly agreed to. All except Dee, who had no dog in this fight and was enjoying it to no end. Well, until a conclusion had been found and she had been blamed for not doing anything to actually help. And they were convinced she either knew or had something to do with it. They were deep in conversation about how long this might’ve been going on when the door finally opened.

The bruise on your temple was from Mac’s fist, obviously, but the blotchy one on your neck could only be from the man beside you. After all, it hadn’t been there before. You’re both half put together, you’re covering your mouth to hide your giggles and Charlie’s got a wide grin on his face.

Your brother moved forward and Frank’s gun made another appearance, “But they-” turning his eyes to the twins who were shaking their heads, “Fine,” rolling his eyes and crossing his arms, “I’m sorry.”

You shrugged, “It’s alright, dude, that actually went _better_ than I would’ve thought,” which earned you confused looks from everyone, “Well, it’s not like I’m gonna break up with Charlie.”

“Wait, wait, break up?” you both widened your eyes, honestly confused as to how he hadn’t gotten that, “I thought it was just,” dropping his voice, “ _Physical_.”

“Oh god,” you could feel the bile threatening to rise, “Oh that’s gross.”

“ _Dude_.”

“Did you not get that they were dating?”

“Obviously. I wouldn’t have brought it up if they weren’t.”

“Yeah, I thought that was pretty obvious.”

“Oh, what the hell, guys?” he snapped, looking at all of them with betrayal.

You shook your head, wrapping your arm around Charlie’s shoulder, “Well now that the cat is out of the bag. Frank, enjoy the apartment.”

“Yeah, buddy,” shooting finger guns at the man, “Get an extra, think of us,” and he looked almost touched.

“Wait,” Dennis dropped his hand to the bar, “So that means he’s going to be coming around _more_ often?” you nodded, “Shit!”


End file.
